do good design

How does design help choose presidents?
How has design thinking positioned the world’s most valuable companies?
Why does the U.S. economy struggle to compete?
Why do we really have an environmental crisis?Design matters. Like never before.

Disarming the weapons of mass deception.
Design creates so much of what we see, what we use, and what we experience. In a time of unprecedented environmental, social, and economic crises, designers must choose what their young profession will be about: inventing deceptions that encourage more consumption – or helping repair the world.

Do Good Design is a call to action:
This book alerts us to the role design plays in persuading global audiences to fulfill invented needs.
The book then outlines a sustainable approach to both the practice and the consumption of design. All professionals will be inspired by the message of how we can feel better and do better while holding onto our principles.

In a time where anything has become possible, design thinking offers a way forward for us all.

Today, everyone is a designer.And the future of civilization is our common design project. What will you do?

This site is about the book, the pledge that professionals can make, and stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in their professional lives to create good.

Bookstores (including higher education)

Paperback ISBN (13-digit): 9780988121553 Price: US$29.99. (FYI, the 2013 edition ISBN number 9780321573209, published by Pearson, is now “Out of print”, as it has been replaced by the 2019 edition published by David Berman Communications.)

Ebook ISBN (13-digit): 978-0-9881215-6-0 Price: US$19.99 (sold either via “access cards” that we ship to you that ready for retail display … or we can work with your electronic delivery system)

Bookstore discount: 25% for 1 or more books.

Returns: Up to 3 months, store pays shipping, 0% restocking fee unless over 75% of the order returned.

Returns to: 340 Selby Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K2A 3X6.

Shipping: Provide us your Fedex account number if you would like us to ship to you via Fedex. Specify “air” versus “ground” shipping.

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Praise for Do Good Design

“I found great resonance with your ideas. I’ve sent copies of Do Good Design to a number of friends.” – Vint Cerf, Vice President, Google (and “father of the Internet”)

“In Yiddish, a mensch is a person of integrity and honor and it seems David Berman fills the bill. His book is lively and humorous and sly too because while it makes you think and adjust your perspective, it includes the reader on several levels. Changing the world for the good never seemed more appealingly possible.”
– Edward Asner, former President, Screen Actors Guild

“…just the right measure of passion and reticence… excellent”
– Ken Garland, author, First Things First manifesto

“Do Good Design will now proudly be in the library of the Bauhaus”
– Dr. Walter Prigge, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

“David Berman, in this lively visual narrative, reveals for us the power of design to drive consumption. Yet, more importantly, he speaks of the extraordinary potential for design to change the world, leading human behavior toward our aspirational destinies.”
– Richard Grefe, executive director, AIGA

“I love this book. David is a regular guy like us, who cares about the world. Buy it and actually read it!”– Eric Karjaluoto, smashLAB / DesignCanChange.org

“I like this book — makes me question what I do.”– Garr Reynolds, author of Presentation Zen

“I think the book is just great!”– Mervyn Kurlansky, co-founder, Pentagram UK

“I believe that the real value of this book does not reside in the plethora of data and information that it contains but rather in the compelling biographical account of the author’s passionate journey to discover and advocate how design and designers can contribute to doing good in a fragile world.”
–Jacques Lange, Icograda President (2005-2007)

“This is the book I’ve been waiting for. Do Good Design is a much needed introduction to the power of graphic design and the reasons designers need to wield that power for good. I’m definitely making it required reading in my class on socially conscious design. Any designer that cares at all about the effects of their work (and that should be all of them) needs to have a copy of this book on their desk.”– Noah Scalin, professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, and founder of Another Limited Rebellion

tell us your story

Click an image to read the Doing Good story behind the design.Created with flickrSLiDR.

In Do Good Design, David tells many stories of ordinary designers doing extraordinary good with their professional opportunities and skills. Here’s your chance to share your story (about yourself or someone else you admire).

Here’s how to share your story:

To share your Doing Good story, visit our “Do Good Design: Tell Us Your Stories” group on Flickr, www.flickr.com/groups/dogooddesign/ and post your story and the image that goes with it, and embed Web links too. (If you don’t already have a free Flickr account, create one at flickr.com). Stories posted to our Flickr group then appear in the slideshow that streams onto this page.

[…] Do Good Design is structured in a way that questions creative directors, art directors, graphics designers, photographers and other creative pros on where they stand in an industry that is currently on an unsustainable path. Berman covers where we were fifty years ago in the world of branding, advertising and design, and where we are now. His comparisons show that while time and technology have rapidly changed our innovation and accountability, in some cases, has not kept up. Berman praises those who are trailblazers in sustainability and strategic design, and provides readers with questions that should be taken into consideration when deciding whether you will be part of the problem or become a viable solution. […]